IN NORFOLK BY THE SEA 163 



Then he begins a series of extraordinary evolutions. 

 With head thrown back, wings drooping, and tail 

 cocked straight up, he struts — no other word expresses 

 it — he struts about in front of his mate. The attitude, 

 a most comical one, is exactly that assumed by the 

 " laughing jackass " kingfisher when laughing. He — . • — 

 jumps at his mate as if daring her to take the fish. 

 Then he will fly round for a bit only to settle again 

 and repeat the play. I have seen on several occa- 

 sions a female " chit," before she has settled down 

 on her eggs, get up, fly off, settle on the shingle ofl* and 

 on for a considerable time, followed persistently by 

 her fish-bearing partner, but always avoiding him as if 

 coqueting or really annoyed. Sooner or later the 

 fish is either relinquished or, as I suspect, taken by 

 the female bird, though this I have not seen. 



One is led at first to wonder how the rabbits ^^cU^^ 

 which swarm in these sandhills can manage to thrive 

 without any water to drink. For there is no fresh 

 water within their reach, and it is clear that they 

 cannot drink the salt water of the tidal creeks. But 

 the rabbit is not, perhaps, by nature a creature that 

 requires much water, and doubtless its wants are 

 sufficiently supplied by dew and the juices of the 

 herbage. At the same time, the extent to which 



